== Bike-Walk Alliance of NH ==

BWA-NH Rail Trails home page

A dream of having old rail corridors serving the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians for transportation, exercise, commuting, recreation, and tourism received a major boost in recent months. Multiple projects are underway and BWA-NH is very pleased to report the progress and help when and where possible. With major support from the State of NH, community-based organizations, businesses, and residents along the rail trails, New Hampshire is starting to "connect the dots."

See the rail trail index page for descriptions and updates of individual rail trails.

NH Rail Trail News, August 2010

Much activity is underway around the state. Below is a summary of some details concerning the Manchester to Lawrence corridor which is part of entire Salem to Concord Bikeway Study approved by NH DOT in 2003. Note that three rail trail groups along the M&L corridor are working together under the name of the Southern NH Rail Trail Alliance so as to coordinate efforts and to speak with one voice. The larger statewide NH Rail Trail Coalition encompasses 22 rail trail organizations for similar goals. While each group is independent and works within their own budget and staff, BWA-NH is the facilitator to help these organizations maintain contact with each other and to collectively deal with the state at all levels.

August 2010 Update: Rail trail users come in all sizes and shapes using different means of non-motorized travel. Walkers, runners, roller bladers, and even wheelchair users take advantage of the smoothly-paved surface along the M&L corridor. On August 8, 2010, Salem Town Manager Henry ("Hank") LaBranche and his wife Pam were riding their bikes on the Windham Rail Trail when they met Viola Topham in her wheelchair being pushed seven miles by her son, Dave Topham. Two wheels, four wheels, or no wheels, rail trails are "For everyone, everyday." (A quote from the Salem Bike-Ped Corridor committee.)

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Viola Topham in wheelchair with Pam and "Hank" LaBranche
riding their bikes on the Windham Rail Trail, August 8, 2010

"Old News" in case you missed it!

July 2010 Update: The Granite State Wheelmen bicycling club offered $25,000.00 via ten $2,500.00 grants to the 22 NH rail trail groups. Applications were received, scored, and the winners were notified on June 10. Presentation of the awards were made at the BWA-NH Concord office, 57 Regional Drive, Suite 6 (in the SHC-NNE section) on July 29. All rail trail supporters, bicyclists, and guests were invited to attend the 7:00-9:00 PM event. Snacks were provided by the GSW.

The winners of the $2,500.00 grants are:

Derry Rail Trail Alliance

Friends of Northern Rail Trail, Merrimack County

Friends of the Goffstown Rail Trail

Friends of the Salem Bike Ped Corridor

Londonderry Trailways

Milford Conservation Commission

New Hampshire Seacoast Greenway

Pathways for Keene, Inc.

Windham Rail Trail Alliance

WOW Trail

More rail trail news

The Windham Depot project is nearly complete and the very unique "union station" looks great from the outside. This station served two rail lines crossing at a 45-degree angle so the building was constructed with platforms serving both lines -- a most unusual design!

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Windham Depot Station, June 19, 2010

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Windham Station (vents added) and Freight Shed, July 31, 2010

And let's not forget the fully-restored Salem Depot Station, about six miles south of Windham on the M&L corridor.

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Salem Depot Station, February 22, 2010

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Salem Depot Station, platform view, and looking toward Methuen. MA, August 14, 2010

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Details of Salem Depot Station including ADA-compliant access ramp
and granite post light (no lamp as yet), August 14, 2010

TE Grant approved for sections of the Salem-Concord Bikeway

The long-planned Salem to Concord Bikeway received a major boost via a $1.272M grant from the Transportation Enhancement program. The communities of Derry, Windham, and Salem will be able to build a paved rail trail connecting to the existing and well-used trails in Derry and Windham. See recent newspaper article for details. BWA-NH is pleased to have helped coordinate the many months of proposals, meetings, and paperwork which resulted in the grant being awarded. With only $6.4M available to the entire state for two years and serious competition for that money, being awarded nearly $1.3M is a major victory. Details will be forthcoming soon.

June 2010 Update: The long-planned Salem to Concord Bikeway received a major boost via a $1.272M grant from the Transportation Enhancement program. The communities of Derry, Windham, and Salem will be able to build a paved rail trail connecting to the existing and well-used trails in Derry and Windham. See recent newspaper article for details. BWA-NH is pleased to have helped coordinate the many months of proposals, meetings, and paperwork which resulted in the grant being awarded. With only $6.4M available to the entire state for two years and serious competition for that money, being awarded nearly $1.3M is a major victory. Plans call for a two-mile Derry section to be completed first, this connecting downtown Derry to Windham Depot and the full 3.5 miles of the Windham Rail Trail. Next to be paved will be the 0.6 mile section of the Windham trail, over the new Rt. 111 bridge, down to the Salem town line and a trail-side parking lot. The Salem section will extend the trail from the Windham line to Salem's North Broadway Cross with part of the trail to be adjacent to Rt. 28 in the area of Wal-Mart. Negotiations are underway with other options to build more of the Salem bike-ped corridor heading south toward Methuen, Mass.

May 2010 Update: On May 15, a ribbon cutting ceremony in Lakeport officially opened a new one-mile segment of the WOW Trail along the westerly shore of Lake Winnipesaukee. Issues concerning insurance, rail-with-trail liability, and a fence seemingly required to separate future trail segments from the track used by a scenic railroad have yet to be resolved.

April 2010 Update: The NH Rail Trails Coalition is comprised of some 22 individual rail trail groups has been working with NH-DOT, NH-DRED Bureau of Trails, and local organizations to promote the development of connected rail trails within NH. The most recent development involves Londonderry Trailways, Manchester Moves, and the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in determining how to route the old Manchester to Lawrence corridor around the airport. With local leadership from Londonderry, a walking tour along the perimeter of the airport was conducted on March 27. The proposed route will be formally presented to the airport and NH-DOT (owner of the corridor) in April. The route around to airport, and potentially connecting to the terminal, is a key link in the Salem to Manchester rail trail, that being part of the NH-DOT Salem to Concord Bikeway as proposed in 2003. The NH-RTC has proposed including this project in the overall Granite State Rail Trail which someday could have connectivity to many areas of the state beyond the immediate Salem to Manchester communities. BWA-NH is helping to facilitate NH-RTC and the individual rail trail organizations to see this concept become a reality.

On November 14 the third annual NH Rail Trail Alliance meeting was hosted by BWA-NH. Some 30 people representing 21 rail trail groups attended the six hour session with much learned and discussed. Representatives from NH-DOT and DRED were also available to answer questions. More details are provided on the press release for your review and distribution.

And on October 31, a guided tour of the Derry and Windham rail trails was conducted by the Derry Rail Trail Alliance and the Windham Rail Trail Alliance while BWA-NH provided some additional details about the entire M&L corridor and rail trail advocacy underway around the whole state. Details of this tour are provided here.

On October 28 BWA-NH coordinated a second and similar tour, basically from Derry to Manchester including the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. This was a very wet day but the only date key players would be available for the rest of the cycling year. Notes are provided here.

A July 22, 2009 tour involving NH DOT and local rail trail groups from Salem, Windham, and Derry was coordinated by BWA-NH. Notes from this all-day tour are provided here.

Reference items and links

Master BWA-NH Rail Trails Index for all known NH rail trails. Index is provided in town sequence.

The NH Bureau of Trails offers information about facilities including rail trails and hiking trails. Check out their web site for details.

Statewide Rail Trail map was created by NH-DOT in April 2009. The PDF file is downloadable here.

The Manchester-Lawrence corridor as being developed into a multi-use paved rail trail by Methuen, Salem, Windham, Derry, Londonderry, and Manchester may be reviewed in detail using Google Earth satellite views. The following link which highlights the original rail corridor was created by Mark Connors, VP of the Derry Rail Trail Alliance. Here is the direct "Tiny URL" link: http://tinyurl.com/ygx8bh3

Charles Martin's excellent book NH Rail Trails covers many aspects of rail trails in the Granite State. Please visit his web site for more info about his book: http://www.nhrailtrails.org/

The national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy offered a link to www.traillink.com, the Conservancy's trail finding web site. Under NH there are a number of trails that have interactive Google maps available. Descriptions of the trail directions and links to the management organization web site are provided if there is one.

This information was kindly provided by:

Carl Knoch
Manager of Trail Development
Northeast Regional Office
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
2133 Market Street, Suite 222
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania 17011

Phone: 717-238-1717
Fax: 717-238-7566

E-Mail: carl@railstotrails.org

For a schedule of known meetings by the various NH rail trail organizations, please see the BWA-NH Calendar page.

Help us make this rail trail section more useful

This rail trail section is "under constant revision." Inputs from the respective organizations, newspaper articles, maps, and photos are desired. Comments, updates, and corrections are welcome! Contact BWA-NH at info@bwanh.org or call 603.898.9926.

Please submit via email any additions, updates, corrections, links, or limited photos to help promote your rail trail project and share ideas with others. By working together we can make a lot more progress than working alone, and to work together those involved need to know what is happening around the state - and maybe in your neighboring town. Let BWA-NH help publicize your project and garner support from the public. There is no cost for this service - we just want to make good things happen! Here is how to contact us:


BWA-NH email address:
info@bwanh.org

Phone:
603.898.9926

Postal mailing address:
Bike-Walk Alliance of NH
57 Regional Drive, Suite 6
Concord, NH 03301-8518